This is a litlle thread but some of you, who don't read Stereophile,
might be interested. What caught my eye was the list of Headphone Amps
in the October, 2006 issue. There are a few amps listed.
Here is the list:

A
Benchmark Media System DAC1
Grace Design m902
HeadRoom Desktop
Musical Fidelity X-Can V.3
Sugden HeadMaster

B
Cayin HA-1A
Channel Islands Audio VHP-1
Ray Samuels Audio Emmeline SR-71
Ray Samuels Audio Emmeline - The Hornet

C
HeadRoom Total BitHead

The most recent additions are, as many of you know, the Cayin HA-1A and Hornet.
There are no A+ or D classes for headphones and headphone amps.


Description
(From Stereophile)

Components listed here have been formally reviewed in Stereophile and have been found to be
among the best available in each of four or five quality classes. Whether a component is listed
in Class A or Class E, we highly recommend its purchase.
....
Class A
Best attainable sound for a component of its kind, almost without practical considerations;
"the least musical compromise". A Class A system is one for which you don't have to make
a leap of faith to believe that you're hearing the real thing. ....

Class B
The next best thing to the very best sound reproduction; Class B components generally cost
less than those in Class A, but most class B components are still quite expensive.

Class C
Somewhat lower-fi sound, but far more musically natural than average home-component high fidelity;
products in this class are of high quality but still affordable.

Class D
Satisfying musical sound, but these components are either of significantly lower fidelity than
the best available, or exhibit major compromises in performance - limited dynamic range, for example. ...

Class E
Applying only to loudspeakers, this "Entry Level" classification ...

Class K
"Keep your eye on this product." Class K is for components that we have not reviewed
(or have not finished testing), but that we have reason to believe may be excellent performers...


What are your impressions about the list?

Adam

P.S.
I have split the Sterophile list into two separate lists,
i.e. Headphone Amps and Headphones for more focused discussions.

All I can say is...well....opinions vary.

Yes opinions do vary, also chances are they do not test as many headphone amps as many of us do here. Lets face it we are nuts, they just make a living at giving out their opinions.

On the other hand the amps that made the list are very nice. Could there be a different list? sure but then someone would have an issue with that one as well.

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Nice! I've always felt the X-CanV3 was a top sounding amp. I guess I'm not the only one! 90% of the time I feel StereoPhile is just that! Nice to see them get it right for a change.

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Hmm..Is this with the VAC PS.. Cause I know during the Stereophile review of the VHP & the VAC, the reviewer prefered the VHP over the Xcan 3..

That Benchmark Media DAC 1 is a swanky little unit!

http://www.benchmarkmedia.com/dac1/

I like the black rackmount style. The "Reviews" tab had plenty of references, but a Stereophile review of the DAC 1 (http://www.stereophile.com/digitalso...86/index1.html) had this to say about its headphone performance:

"By the way, in direct comparison with the Grace 901, using Sennheiser HD 600 headphones, I still had to give headphone-amp pride of place to the Grace, for its slightly more luscious midrange and sweeter treble. And, for those for whom such things matter, the Benchmark's industrial design and build quality, while certainly unobjectionable, don't have any of the Grace's "Wow" factor."

Not an overwhelming endorsement, especially for a Class A rating. Hmm.

Has anyone listened to units built with Benchmark Media's dedicated headphone amplifier unit?

http://www.benchmarkmedia.com/hpa-2/

That's pretty bare bones, but it looks like it would be perfect for a DIY project! I wonder how it sounds; the "Reviews" tab doesn't function.

I've always felt that Ray got shafted with those B ratings. For the product category of "headphone amps" it's pretty hard for little portables to stack up against full sized amps. When it comes to speaker amps, they have several categories to ensure that they are not comparing non-comparables.

Although it could be argued that each product reviewed by Stereophile stands on it's own merit, and thus all of their reviews do implicitly take into account consideratons such as the MSRP and intended use of the reviewed product, I can't help but to think that when it comes to assigning ratings in overly broad categories such as "headphone amps" they can't help but to penalize the small portable amps, even if ever so slightly and without any bad intentions. Just my opinion, for what it's worth.

The reviews of both the Hornet and SR-71 were flowing with praise, and then boom, B. But whatever, everyone is entitled to their opinon, and they do try to hold out from giving any A ratings unless all is well and they essentially can't find any flaws with the product in question.

I guess I'd have to disagree on that. I consider the SR-71 a pretty decent portable, and maybe the Hornet a step below that, but I'd have a hard time rating them as "A" class as far as headphone amps go even amongst portables. While that doesn't mean my opinion should stand on there any more than yours, I think it may at least be evidence that it isn't a given that they're owed an "A" rating in all eyes. A lot of reviews I've seen in Stereophile have been full of superlatives and perhaps even hyperbole; glowing reviews. So I guess it's basically glowing versus glowingest here, and a glowing review alone isn't going to produce an "A" rating, either :/

It's interesting how Headroom has two amps on the list... yet we don't see a lot of discussion here about the Desktop.

Maybe it's just because that the Desktop is a relatively expensive amp and that not too many people own it. I'm surprised that SinglePower's amps aren't on the list.

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singlepower's amps havn't been sent into stereophile for review. in fact, i think this lists all the amps they have ever reviewed.

Benchmark DAC1's headphone amp should not be in class A, since it is not even as good as Cayin HA-1A, both of which I own. Ray's amps all beat DAC1's amp. But anyway we all know Sthat tereophile people aren't experts on headphones, but the fact they are making an effort to cover headphone stuff should be lauded.

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If such is the case, it would be really funny

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Thus, as someone mentioned above, opinions will vary, so doing these ratings is quite a subjective thing.

I didn't mean to imply that everyone would automatically think that Ray's SR-71 and Hornet ought to be A rated. My main point was that it seems to me that there is an inherent limitation in their rating system since "headphone amps" is only one category, whereas with speaker amps, they break it down into several categories. This would seem to create a bias towards the more expensive, full size headphone amps, and against the less expensive, small portable amps, but maybe they take all of that into account (and thus my logic may be faulty).

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Here, here! I couldn't agree more about being thankful for their attention to headphone audio. It's quite nice to have a spirited guy like Wes Phillips (who loves headphones as much as we do, and is an experienced headphone listener) in our corner. I get a kick out of how much he gets a kick out of all things headphone-related. It would be easy, as a seasoned reviewer who has had the chance to hear all sorts of amazing gear over the years, to have a total disregard for headphone audio. Yet, he keeps writing about all sorts of topics that either directly or indirectly connect back to our little corner of the audio hobby. Stereophile's presence (both Wes and John Atkinson) at the national meet, and their subsequent coverage of the event, was also very encouraging. So I'm not trying to "dis" their rag at all. In fact, I read nearly everything in every issue and quite like their range of coverage. But the Hornet should be an A (just kidding).

I think there should be a separate class for portables. They have enough breakdowns for other areas so this seems totally legitimate. I think that to compare them at this point is invalid.

I also think they should make a much greater attempt at reviewing many more portables or the comparison is to what? While the SR71 and I would imagine the Hornet are good there are so many portables that I would find this rating system misleading. I read and subscribed to Stereophile starting in 1989 but after a number of years I stopped because I found much of their reviewing suspect. They reviewed an item of mine and I got a very good review but I still feel they get it right about 50% of the time. This was supported by friends in the business. So while I feel they should review more of the portables I also do not feel they always do an unbiased job, sometimes to the great financial detriment of a company.

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I don't know abou that.
I think Stereophile's list concerns more about sound quality than utility.
I don't see them separating speakers into two categoris: one that a person can lift and the other that only a forklift can lift